The NaK Population: A 2019 Status

The statistical debris measurement campaigns conducted by the Haystack Ultrawideband Satellite Imaging Radar (HUSIR) on behalf of the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office are used to characterize the long-term behavior of the small, low Earth orbit (LEO) orbital debris environment. A long-recognized, unique component of the LEO environment is composed of small Sodium-Potassium (NaK) eutectic nuclear reactor coolant droplets associated with the Soviet Radar Ocean Reconnaissance Satellite (RORSAT) program. Beginning with the flight of Cosmos 1176, RORSAT vehicles would nominally separate their reactor core at end of mission, thereby venting the NaK coolant and producing the NaK droplet population. In this paper, we describe the methodology by which NaK are segregated from the statistically sampled general debris population and their sizes inferred; the current NaK environment; how it has changed over time; and a potential new source of NaK: RORSAT vehicles that did not separate their reactor core by either design or apparent malfunction

Recent Results from the Goldstone Orbital Debris Radar: 2016-2017

Since 1993, the NASA Orbital Debris Program Office has used the Goldstone Orbital Debris Radar (Goldstone) to sample statistically the orbital debris environment. Due to the sensitivity of this radar, which can detect an approximately 3 mm-diameter conducting sphere at 1,000 km, it has filled an important role in the characterization of the sub-centimeter-sized orbital debris population. Through the years, the capabilities of this system have increased recent updates include increased receiver bandwidth and a change in the bi-static observation geometry both of which enhance the radars ability to estimate orbital parameters. In 2016, dual polarization capability was added, making this the first year where both right- and left-hand circularly polarized information was available from this sensor. This additional polarization information may enable better characterization of sub-centimeter-sized particles in low Earth orbit, particularly since the receiver triggers on reflected energy from both left- and right-handed circular polarizations independently. In this paper, we present measurements and results derived from data taken during the calendar years (CY) 2016-2017 by Goldstone and compare this dataset to measurements taken by the Haystack Ultra-wideband Satellite Imaging Radar (HUSIR) during a similar timeframe

Archives in Action: What Kind of Animal is It?

Archives in Action: What Kind of Animal is It The opportunities to strengthen our relevance and center our value to our campus communities has never been stronger. The rise of digital publishing and scholarly communication as issues in academic librarianship and university life are both lively and multifaceted. There are many faculty and students on our campuses who are publishing in the digital environment, either through the mechanisms of traditional peer-reviewed journals, web publication, and even paper and ink. These university publications, until recently, have existed in most part as fragmented and disconnected coalitions, but with the rise of digital archive platforms publishing has come back to the library. The ability to create an umbrella for scholarly and creative work produced on our campuses is now an ascendant reality, and is bringing new patrons into the library. It is the process of discovery for these works, and the metrics that go along with these processes, that is creating a space for libraries to assume a central role in the scholarly conversation that is higher education. In our presentation we will highlight the work being done at the Al Harris Library in relation to three very different types of journals being published on our campus at SWOSU. We have created new service models to expand the range and presence of the library for these university patrons. In a historical sense publishing manuscripts was once central to libraries, getting back to basics, we are doing so again

Geographic information systems and coastal planning in Australia

The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the ability of visualization and simulation techniques to aid and simulate current and future directions in coastal planning. The process of visualization will interrogate the coastal cities of Portland, Apollo Bay, Anglesea and Hobsons Bay in south-eastern Australian coastal seaboard through a progression of projections and simulated forecasts from 2014 to 2050 to see if a process(s) or methodology could help in planning the future growth of coastal settlements. The analysis uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) associated with planning application software

The Spatial distribution of intelligence around a Hamilton intermediate school

The study sought to investigate the spatial distribution of children's intelligence as it occured around a single intermediate school. This objective was initially intended to be of an exploratory nature, but was subsequently developed as an alternative methodology for the inadequate studies undertaken by earlier researchers. Two problems were defined for investigation - identification of intelligence regions, and explanation of their occurrence. In solving both problems, deficiencies were revealed in techniques available. The major conclusion from the study is that previous research has made false assumptions about the scale at which intelligence is distributed throughout an urban neighbourhood. This conclusion is worthy of further investigation by more sophisticated analytical techniques than those used in the present study

Manufacturing Automatic Data Collection

Indiana University Purdue University IndianapolisThe question or purpose of seeking out new technology and actively using it is whether it makes our lives better and more efficient. Today’s state of the art manufacturing facilities and even the ones that are slightly behind the modern curve, have manufacturing processes that produce an enormous amount of data that needs to be captured; Futaba Indiana of America (FIA) is currently not using autonomous data collection measures on their production floor. If FIA’s data was collected and properly utilized it would provide valuable information, which could aid their organization in making business decisions and help to lead them into a significant competitive advantage. Unfortunately, if a facility’s automation development is lacking in the field of equipment network capability, it can make it quite challenging to collect and capture all of its relevant data. Understanding the purpose of automated data collection and trying to move into the age of “real-time” machine data collection is all about helping your facility improve productivity and profitability. However, it is also about making the essential first steps toward becoming a data-driven, high-tech manufacturing sector that makes the company internationally competitive. FIA, in short, will begin this journey to becoming a smart manufacturing facility by implementing the following tasks: upgrading internal server capacities to handle the intense data load, upgrading all equipment PLCs for network capabilities, running network cabling to all equipment desired to be “on network” and create a PLC program to capture all the desired manufacturing data. The goal at the end of this project is to make data collection effortless, done completely without the need for a production control specialist to count a single part on the plant floor.Facilities Management Technolog

Life at school in Australia and Japan: the impact of stress and support on bullying and adaptation to school

In this international, comparative study, path analysis was used to examine eight different aspects of Japanese and Australian students' experiences of school life in relation to their effect on adaptation to school. Adaptation was constructed to include information on enjoyment of school, feelings of belonging to school, and relationships with other students. Two separate path models were tested to compare questionnaire data from over 3000 Australian and 6000 Japanese students across Years 5-10. The questionnaire was developed collaboratively by the authors to examine issues of common concern in both countries. Issues that related to the impact on adaptation to school of stress and support: family teachers, peers and school work, as well as bullying were of particular interest. Lack of support and the influential effect of stress were found to exert direct negative effects on adaptation to school, especially for high school students in Japan and Australia. The path results also confirmed the stressful effects of bullying in both countries. The finding of a strong relationship between bullying others and being victimised is discussed in the paper. Finally, the differences and similarities between Japanese and Australian students' perceptions of school life are extrapolated

Partial differential equation models for invasive species spread in the presence of spatial heterogeneity

Models of invasive species spread often assume that landscapes are spatially homogeneous; thus simplifying analysis but potentially reducing accuracy. We extend a recently developed partial differential equation model for invasive conifer spread to account for spatial heterogeneity in parameter values and introduce a method to obtain key outputs (e.g. spread rates) from computational simulations. Simulations produce patterns of spatial spread remarkably similar to observed patterns in grassland ecosystems invaded by exotic conifers, validating our spatially explicit strategy. We find that incorporating spatial variation in different parameters does not significantly affect the evolution of invasions (which are characterised by a long quiescent period followed by rapid evolution towards to a constant rate of invasion) but that distributional assumptions can have a significant impact on the spread rate of invasions. Our work demonstrates that spatial variation in site-suitability or other parameters can have a significant impact on invasionsComment: 13 pages, 18 figure